R. H. Baker & Co., a Corporation, and Edward H. Schustack v. Smith-Blair, Inc., a Corporation

Appellant Schustack is the owner of Patent No. 2,713,352 on a pipe repair clamp; appellant R. H. Baker & Co. manufactures the patented device. Appellee manufactures competing devices. Appel-lee brought an action under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2201 seeking a declaration that appel-lee’s pipe repair clamp did not infringe appellant Schustack’s patent, and that the patent was invalid. Appellants counterclaimed, alleging infringement and demanding damages. This is an appeal from a judgment that appellee’s device did not infringe the Schustack patent. We affirm.

I

The district court required the jury to return a special verdict pursuant to Rule 49(a), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The jury answered all questions relating to issues of fact bearing upon validity favorably to the Schustack patent, but the district court declined to adjudge the patent valid. Appellants assign this refusal as error.

We think the district court was right. Assuming the questions were proper and the jury’s answers provided the basis for a judgment of validity, we nonetheless agree with the district court that “in no event should a judgment hold a patent valid, but not infringed.” See, e. g., Altvater v. Freeman,…